<HTMLPracticalMode>
True enough, however assuming (a dangerous thing) that the target audience is using PC-only devices (as opposed to wireless/etc) it is usually safe to assume that there is room for two columns of frames in the window (the menubar/main real-estate phenomenon). Additionally, it is possible to use relative values with absolute positioning and widths

    <div style="position:absolute; top:0px;left:0px;width:100%;height:
+100px;" >
      header real estate
    </div>
    <div style="position:absolute; top:100px;left:0px;width:20%;" >
      left menu
    </div>
    <div style="position:absolute; top:100px;left:20%;width:80%;" >
      main real estate
    </div>
[download]

</HTMLPracticalMode>

I'm not going to disagree with you that in general staying away from anything that assumes a particular screen size, but your same advice would also apply to

• frames
• tables with width/height specifications

And since he's already got frames here, whether he picks tables to maintain his possibly-too-wide page format, absolute-positioned seems easier